Colores de Abundancia · Semillas del Ayni
Julián
Sasari
Teacher and guide of Semillas del Ayni, a program carrying children through a full season of native corn cultivation in the highlands above Cusco.
The sacred principle of ayni, reciprocal and communal labor, asks that the effort of one become the strength of all, so the land's harvest and its knowledge are never carried by a single pair of hands.
— The guiding principle of Semillas del Ayni
Colores de Abundancia · ONG CODEAB
Biography
Teaching the land, season by season
Julián Sasari leads Semillas del Ayni ("Seeds of Ayni"), a traditional Andean agriculture program run through Colores de Abundancia and ONG CODEAB in the communities of Qquea and Cuchuma, in the highlands above Cusco, Peru. Each year he guides a group of children through a full growing season of native corn, from the first blessing of the chacra through to harvest, treating the field itself as a living classroom.
His teaching moves between practical skill and cultural transmission at once: showing children how to read the health of a plant by its leaves, explaining the biology of pollination, judging a harvest by feel rather than by size, and identifying the many native corn varieties grown in the region, including wayra, chullpi, paraqay, and puka. He also guides the community's observance of agricultural ceremonies, including Pukllay and the seed-exchange ritual of Watunakuy, that mark the rhythm of the growing year.
Documentation of the 2026 season shows a program built entirely around ayni, reciprocal and communal labor, in which children work alongside parents, grandparents, and neighbors at every stage of the harvest. The knowledge of the land, this program shows, is something a community carries together.
The Work
A Season in the Chacra
Julián teaches children to read a corn plant's signals the way a doctor reads symptoms: green silk means the plant is still pollinating, dark dry silk means the grain has already formed, and the underside of a leaf can reveal frost damage or fungus before it spreads.
Julián teaches that corn is a monoecious plant, carrying both male (tassel) and female (ear) organs on the same stalk, and shows children how fine pollen travels on the wind to fertilize each strand of silk and produce a perfect ear of grain.
Twice each season, families and children mound soil around the base of young corn stalks, bracing them against wind, improving root oxygenation, and protecting against night frost. It is a communal task, carried out together at each stage of growth.
Children learn early that size can be deceiving. A student named Jesús once harvested the largest ear in the field, only to find its kernels barely formed. From that lesson, the group adopted a "touch technique" at the tip of the ear to judge true ripeness before cutting.
Children learn to identify and classify the community's native corn varieties by color, texture, and grain shape, including wayra, chullpi, paraqay, puka, mestiza, taq'i, and t'ika, and come to understand the chacra as a living bank of biodiversity worth protecting.
Every stage of the season, from planting to hilling, cutting, and harvesting, is carried out as a shared task among families. Julián's teaching rests on this principle: that agricultural knowledge and the love of the land are transferred most naturally when the work itself is done together.
Ceremony & Celebration
Marking the agricultural year
Semillas del Ayni treats celebration as part of the curriculum: the seasonal rituals that give the community's relationship with the land its shape and meaning.
Pukllay: Reunion in the Chacra
When the corn reaches maturity, families and children gather in the chacra to celebrate with prayer, song, and shared food. They burn incense over the crop, offer coca k'intus to Pachamama, and walk the maize field to the sound of the pututo horn.
Watunakuy: The Seed Exchange
A sacred ceremony of mutual visits between communities, held to exchange seeds, knowledge, and goodwill. Families select their finest corn seeds to bring to the gathering, renewing both the harvest and the relationships between communities for the year ahead.
Gallery
A season in the chacra
Photographs from the 2026 Semillas del Ayni season in Qquea and Cuchuma, Cusco, Peru.
More artists, more traditions
Julián is one of many teachers and artisans working with Colores de Abundancia to preserve Peru's living cultural heritage.